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Ought Self Concept Essay

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Within their self-concept (the large collection of ideas people have about themselves,) everyone has very specific notions about what they think they should be; these notions are referred to as the ought self-concept (Verderber & MacGeorge, 2016). My ought self-concept has been primarily established by my parents as being a hard worker, standing up for what’s right, and always doing my best. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, there are days when I don’t work hard or feel like doing my best, so on these days there is a discrepancy between my actual self-concept and my ought self-concept.
According to a study published by the American Psychological Association in 2016, this discrepancy can take quite the toll on my mental state in the form of anxiety and depression (Watson, Bryan, & Thrash, 2016). A group of professors at the College of William and Mary found that scores on self-discrepancy assessments analyzing the difference between perceived actual and ought self-concepts correlate very strongly with scores on traditional anxiety …show more content…

An hour later, I had been diagnosed with severe anxiety. According to Dr. Dunk, my brain was trying to control my anxious thoughts about school with cortisol (a hormone that suppresses your emotions,) which was causing a buildup of stomach acid. In short, I was so worried about maintaining my grades and reaching my ought self-concept that it had made me physically ill. Looking back, this diagnosis demonstrates just how important ought self-concept is to me, even if I don’t realize it. Having ideas about who you think you should be can be very motivating and working to achieve those ideals can be incredibly rewarding; however, placing incredible pressure on yourself to realize your goals can be physically

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